This invention relates to theft prevention and detection in general in more particularly to an improved system for marking money to allow it to be traced to a business from which it was stolen.
With the rising crime rate, the number of thefts or money from businesses has increased drasticly. Currency, by its nature, is difficult to identify except by serial number. Banks and other groups dealing with large amounts of currency do often record serial numbers in a case a theft should occur. However, a small business which is constantly dealing with money coming in and going out cannot keep track of serial numbers. As a result, if there is a theft from a business two problems occur. The first problem is in catching the thief. If the thief goes otherwise undetected it is unlikely that simply passing the stolen money will result in detection since it is good money and cannot be differentiated from money which he came by legally. A second problem arises in that, even if the thief is caught, it may not be possible to identify the source of his money. It is very likely that he has robbed a number of establishments and all of the money will be mixed together. In some cases it may not even be possible to prove that he is the thief who was responsible for a robbery other than the one in connection with which he was caught.
In view of these various factors, there is an undeniable need to, first, prevent as many of these thefts as possible and, second to provide a means to aid in detecting thefts and in returning stolen money to its proper owner.